W767
Cowpea: Putting Genomics into Practice for Food Security

Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Time: 1:35 PM
Room: Pacific Salon 6-7 (2nd Floor)
Timothy J. Close , Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA
Philip A. Roberts , Department of Nematology, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA
Stefano Lonardi , University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA
Issa Drabo , Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles, Saria, Burkina Faso
Batieno T. Benoît Joseph , West African centre for Crop Improvement, Legon, Ghana
Tignegre Jean-Baptiste De La Salle , Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles, Saria, Burkina Faso
Ibrahim Atokple , CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), Tamale, Ghana
Francis Kusi , CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), Tamale, Ghana
Christian Fatokun , International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
Ousmane Boukar , International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
Ndiaga Cissé , Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Bambey, Senegal
Sassoum Lo , University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA
Mitchell R. Lucas , University of California, Riverside, CA
Hamid Mirebrahim , University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA
Maria Muñoz-Amatriain , Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA
Steve Wanamaker , Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA
Savanah M St Clair , University of California, Riverside, CA
Yi-Ning Guo , Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA
Bao-Lam Huynh , University of California, Riverside, CA
Arsenio Daniel Ndeve , University of California, Riverside, CA
Jansen Rodrigo Pereira Santos , University of California, Riverside, CA
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The five-year project "USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilient Cowpea" began September 2013 under the Feed the Future Global Hunger and Food Security Research Strategy: Climate Resilience, Nutrition, and Policy in the Program Area "High-Yielding, Climate Resilient Legumes".The focal theme is breeding and genetics for cowpea, with the aim of increasing the yield potential and providing solutions for major production constraints. The project involves partnership between the University of California at Riverside and the leading cowpea breeders in four West African nations (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal) in the Sudano-Sahelian region, which is the main production zone for cowpea. The areas of emphasis for variety improvement are resistance to the drought-predisposed fungal pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina, drought tolerance at critical stages (early seedling, flowering, terminal) and heat tolerance during reproductive development.There are three basic objectives: 1) Foundation Development, 2) Training and 3) Implementation. Foundation Development includes the improvement of genotyping capabilities. In year 1 this included the development of a “60k” BeadAssay iSelect for SNP genotyping, which successfully assays over 48,000 SNPs, and its application to RILs for mapping and over 200 West African breeder favorites. Phenotyping of these materials for drought tolerance and other relevant traits is ongoing. An 8-parent MAGIC population and diverse germplasm are also elements of this project. Training and implementation activities will occur through the life of the project. The project is synergistic with the FtF Legume Innovation Lab, which emphasizes insect resistance in the context of the drought prone production environment.
Back to: Leveraging Genomics Tools to Accelerate Breeding for Climate Resilience
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